This was a homecoming of sorts. I can't remember when I performed the first of the Hockaday family events. It had to be in the late 1990s, maybe around 1994. After doing one family event I believe I performed three other weddings and have done at least six others from guests who attended one of the original four events. I must admit this event proceeded with great difficulty although I'm not sure if anyone truly knew about it. I arrived at the site an hour and a half prior to the event, a little later than I normally do although I'm contracted to arrive 45 minutes prior. I needed every moment of that time as I ran into about 10 former clients that were not connected to this event who stopped me from completing set-up as quickly as I wanted to. I completed set-up/dress up 10 minutes prior to the events starting time a bit bothered as I brought along a light show as a gratis-contract upgrade but was unable to set-up the lights because of very close quarters. I then noticed another D.J. walking his equipment into the hallway......... 45 minutes later as he turned on his equipment I noticed a slight dimming of the room and a slight dim on my equipment's console that disappeared as quickly as it occurred. 10 minutes passed and I thought nothing of it until realizing that the music that I was playing on my Cortex media mixer had come to an abrupt end. Scanning the equipment I realized that something was really wrong.....I quickly began playing a c.d. on the c.d. mixer........ The sound became a bit distorted although looking around the room all of the guests were seemingly enjoying the R&B-Jazz playing with some guests softly singing along to the tracks. I turned off the amp' switching to the back-up amp' and hear the same mild distortion. I bypassed the mixer and heard the same mild distortion. Noting that it was time for an announcement I opened my microphone expecting the worse and the microphone sound was crystal clear as I announced that the guests of honor would be arriving soon, but the c.d. stopped playing as soon as I began talking. When I stopped the c.d. mixer flashed and restarted the track. I realized that the c.d. player must be affected so I ran outside gathering my back-up system when I noticed that the guests of honor had arrived. I moved the back-up system into the room and walked outside to arrange the guests of honor. After arranging them I started their music and opened the mic again...... "Friends and Family !" I exclaimed and realized the c.d. player stoped playing and began flashing... Continuing with the announcements and introductions each guest of honor received about five seconds of music before the music magically stopped. I filled in where the music left off with motivational statements and salutations about the guests filling the void when it hit me...... Something or someone has affected the facility's power. Following the intros' and prayer I knew what had to be done. Switching to my back-up computer engaged the music back to crystal clear sound. I adjusted the power input on the Cortex and shut-off my c.d. mixer. Complaining to the facility's staff was to no avail until a staff member who had been there for years prior to the remodeling saw me and greeted me. I shared with him the problem and he noted "Ain't nothing gonna' change. They have four warmers plugged into the wall sucking all of the power. The other D.J. isn't helping matters, I'm not sure what to tell you." All of the while I knew I had to rock the crowd in a modified manner tonight..... And rock we did ! My mature crowd came to celebrate the couple's 50 years with a party vengeance ! We kept it Old-School most of the night and only really were able to "Go Current" towards the last 45 minutes of the party that went 35 minutes over. At that time the Mature crowd kinda' said 'Let the young folks have the dance floor now, we did our damage!!!" It was great celebrating with the Hockadays ! See yall' at 4th of July !
D.J. Seko
